“We are reminded of the danger that our men and women, who are sent abroad to represent the United States of America, to promote democracy and freedom around the world, we know the danger to which they are exposed. The tragic death of Ambassador [Christopher] Stevens, [State Department official] Sean Smith and others in Libya point out how dangerous the daily lives are in these areas of the world. We express our deep sympathy. But I'm sure that every embassy in the world has been put on high alert, particularly in areas where we know there are violent proclivities but also around the world, to make sure our embassy personnel are on guard, Americans are on guard and we keep our people safe.”

“In my opinion, [Governor] Mitt Romney from a political perspective, made some reckless statements without the facts. ... I thought [former Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice's response, who was the foreign policy spokesperson at [the Republican National] Convention, was the proper response. She expressed deep sympathy, and she expressed a view that we need to keep our personnel safe and we ought to remember our personnel who are abroad. She didn't get into politics, she didn't get into criticism. We all need to know the facts of what happened here. …But I think this is a time for Americans to come together, to understand that our personnel abroad are in harm's way but they are presenting our values and they are trying to stabilize some very unstable areas of the world for the benefit of this country, its safety, and for the benefit of the entire world.”

“I agree with [Senator] John Mccain. I think he's absolutely right. It is not a time to retreat or to turn and run. … America has no intention of doing that. America, in a bipartisan way, has been very resolute in confronting those that would terrorize our people but terrorize their own countries as well. The Libyans have apologized [and] the Libyan leadership has said it would make greater efforts and we need to give assistance to those efforts, to keep their country stable and secure…. But clearly we need to ensure that the Libyans and other host governments do everything they can to keep our personnel secure, as it is our obligation to keep their personnel secure here in the United States.”